[thelist] capturing video for the web

[Jim Armstrong]

Gail Matthews-DeNatale wrote:
> 
> Do any of you have tips or advice?  Are there any other video capture
> programs out there that let you digitize at a smaller screen size?  Expense
> is a concern and we're PC based.
> 
Gail:

  Is your video capture lossy?  What color depth is being used?  Are you
capturing from VHS or S-VHS?  Can you process the video through QT Pro
with no compression and play it back with good quality off your hard
drive?  I'm trying to get at the quality of the captured source.  There
are many capture cards on the market in the sub-$500 range that allow
you to capture at 320x240 and smaller with adequate quality.

  Sorensen is an excellent codec for low-bandwidth delivery, but it's
not as good as Sorensen-2 (especially with VBR).  QT Pro is a great
program, but it's not as powerful as Media Cleaner Pro.  

  The quality of card affects the quality of the captured video.  From
that point on, you are at the mercy of your compression software.  A
software upgrade may be indicated.  Media Cleaner Pro/Sorensen 2 is not
cheap.  So, will you be doing this a lot?  If so, it's probably worth
the cost.

  Much depends on the type of video, amount of motion, etc.  Please
contact me off-list since I need to get some more details from you.

Best of luck to you,

jim


<tip type="video" author="idiot who has not posted in a while">
For the unofficial Evolt-only video primer - www.2112fx.com/video.html
</tip>

<tip type="flash">
Do you have a flash movie with a rectangle that overlays all your
content?  After loading, the rectangle is tweened to zero opacity to
reveal the underlying content.  Looks great until you put it online and
view it in some versions of Netscape.  For an instant, your underlying
content is revealed.  But wait, it works fine in IE.

When exporting your movie, change load order from 'bottom up' to 'top
down'.  It's easy to forget, but will help compensate for this situation
which tends to appear in older versions of NS.
</tip>


-- 
2112 FX :: freelance animation :: video production :: www.2112fx.com

There is no spoon :: Neo :: The MATRIX